Well, happy Sunday, church. How y'all doing? Good. Excellent. Well, we're going to study a topic today that, believe it or not, there's some disagreement on. But the disagreement on this topic is not among those who truly believe. There's two ends of the spectrum when it comes to Jesus coming in the flesh. The word becoming flesh, dwelling among us, was Jesus divine, was Jesus human? Yes, he was both, is the traditional response, the true and biblical response. Yes, indeed, he was fully both. But in these disagreements, there's generally two ends of the spectrum, and they're represented even in the world today by many of the cults and many of the false religions that have followed after Christ at the stirrings of his enemies. Jesus as divine and only divine is one of those places where his humanity was but an illusion, but an act. He was, in fact, he was spirit. And all that he did upon the earth that made him seem to be human was just to relate, just to show, just to reach out to us, as it were, by God. He was, you know, the other end of the spectrum is that he was only a human. that he was not divine, that he was not preexistent, that he was a creation of God like the rest of us and God worked through him and his teaching and his miracles just like he did the prophets of old using his spirit to do it. And the question we ask is along that spectrum and where people might fall on that, does it matter? Because some would argue, well, it doesn't really matter. It's really his teaching that is important. It's really what he taught us, and that we ought to obey those things is what really matters. And then others would argue, well, it's his example that is important to us, whether he's human, divine, all that mystery. We don't need that. We just need to do as he did. Well, the question is. Can we believe? Can we be saved? Can we remain in Christ without resolving this issue and this debate? And the question is, can we be certain that we even love Him? Can it be certain that we even love God? If we're not really curious, and wanting to get it right. Because my greatest concern for those who would say, well, these things don't matter and we don't need, that's for theologians, that's for people at the university to figure out. My great concern for them is, do you love God? Do you want to know? How long were you dating your significant other before you asked where they were born? before you wanted to meet their family, before you wanted to find out what their preferences were, and you would claim to know and to love the divine creator of the universe and not want to know whether he was divine or human or both and how. And so we come to something that is indeed, as we can see, very important, and a very important issue to be seen. And we're going to see some examples from John, and we're going to spend a little time in Philippians. We'll be in John chapter 1 and Philippians chapter 2. And as we read from John in chapter one, verses 35 to 51 is what we'll look at. We really wanna focus on verse 145, John 145. That's where I get the title for this, Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph. Because in this title of the sermon, in this phrase that's spoken by one of the disciples, are two very important clues as to the fact that Jesus was fully human. He was from a place. He had dwelt in a particular place. He was a son of someone, and he grew up, much like we have. And so we need to take a close look at this to understand this. So let's begin by visiting in the scriptures here, and we'll begin in John 1, verse 35. And here's what it says there. Of course, this is after we met John the Baptist. John the Baptist proclaimed that Jesus was the Lamb of God, and John the Baptist had his own followers, and this is what happens in that scene. The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, behold, the Lamb of God. The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, what are you seeking? And they said to him, Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? He said to them, come and you will see. So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the 10th hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which means Christ. He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon, son of John. You shall be called Cephas, which means Peter. The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, follow me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, we have found him of whom Moses and the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathanael said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and he said, behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit. Nathanael said to him, how do you know me? Jesus answered him, before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathanael answered him, rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. Jesus answered him, because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these. And he said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man. Let's pray. Father God, it's our delight to be in your word this morning together. We rely upon your spirit for understanding of these things for you've told us that they are spiritually discerned. And Lord, we pray this day that you'll give us that understanding, that discernment. And Lord, we pray that you will be known and glorified and that you will guide us and teach us through your truth. We praise you and thank you in Jesus name, amen. Well, from this passage, this simple little passage that we have here, we see several examples of his humanity, simple things like the fact that while he walked, he spoke, he required shelter because he was staying somewhere, he had a name, He had a place he was from, he had an earthly father. We see many of those things in verse 45. Now later in the book of John, we learn much more about Jesus. We learn that he was invited to a wedding, as all of us at some point have been. We see him interact with his mother there, and we see that he loved and cared for her, particularly at the end of the book, as he commends her care into the hands of John, the apostle. He had brothers. And if we're ever doubting whether Jesus was tempted as we are, he had brothers. He traveled for the holidays with the family. He faced strife and disagreements with people. He avoided confrontation at times. And at times he was wearied. At times he appears pleased, even surprised. Jesus had a habit of praying. Jesus faced insults. In the book of John, you'll even find Jesus weeping. Jesus sat down and ate and had meals with people. Jesus washed the disciples' feet. That makes us wonder, did his feet get dirty? And some, would say, no, he was but a mere spirit pretending to walk upon the earth. But when we go a little further in the gospel, we see that at times he was hungry. At times he was thirsty. So we have to assume, yeah, he probably had dirty feet from time to time. Sometimes he raised his voice to be heard. And at one point, he collapses from exhaustion. And shortly thereafter, he bled and he died. Read the gospel. That will be your sermon. This is the humanity of Jesus Christ. This is what makes very clear that he walked as we walk. He lived as we live. yet without sin. In the other Gospels, we even find his birth narrative. We find out that he was circumcised on the eighth day according to their laws. We find him growing and learning. But there's a few things that are absent from Jesus. You'll see in some of the Renaissance paintings, sometimes Jesus is depicted with this great aura around him, or this great big shiny gold thing behind his head. And he didn't have those things. There was nothing about his appearance according to the scriptures that would make people marvel at him, make them stop and gape at him. He didn't come with a name tag. He didn't have angelic escorts. But occasionally, He did miracles. Twice, there was a voice from heaven attested to who he was. He was ministered to by angels in the desert, and once he walked on water. He allowed people to disagree with him, to oppose him, to not believe. Now, he didn't always let it go without a word. But nevertheless, he did let people go their way. And sometimes overlooked, as we have this discussion of Jesus, we look at the Gospels for their relevant testimony about what he was like, about what he experienced, and what he did. But sometimes we ignore the fact that this is precisely what was prophesied in the Old Testament. So when you run into those that are members of cults or other things or doubt that Jesus was fully human or, for that matter, fully divine, then look into the prophecies concerning him, beginning at the very beginning in Genesis 3, verse 15, where the prediction of him comes, the first one, that says, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. And it's got a particular offspring in mind, because it uses a pronoun, he. He shall bruise your head, he says to the serpent. and you shall bruise his heel. There was going to be a descendant of the woman, which implies this person is going to be born as a human being is born in the normal way from a woman. And indeed, he was. In Deuteronomy chapter 18, Moses is summarizing things for the people of Israel right before they go into the Promised Land. He's reiterating the laws. He's reminding them what their conditions are going to be in the land that depend upon their behavior in that land. But he says this to the people. Now, Moses didn't get to go into the promised land. And he knows he's not going in. So he does all this ahead of time for them. And one of the things he says in Deuteronomy 18 is, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you. You see the twofold testimony to Jesus' humanity right there. He's like me. Well, what's Moses like? Well, Moses is a human being. And he says, from among you, and that means he's going to be a descendant of one of the Israelites. It is to him you shall listen. In Psalm 22. which as we read Psalm 22, we find many details paralleling Jesus' crucifixion. It's an inspired Psalm of David that says much about Jesus. And from his perspective, it says this, it says, I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation, I will praise you. Now it doesn't necessarily mean to his literal brothers, it means to those around him, it means perhaps from the perspective of the song, the other Israelites. This is one who is speaking, is considering himself one of them by calling them his brothers. In Isaiah chapter seven, verses we're familiar with, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. And New Testament grabs hold of this verse and says, that's about Jesus. He's born to a woman. Later in Isaiah, in chapter 9, verse 6, to us a child is born, to us a son is given. He's going to be born. He's not just going to be magically transported out of heaven. He's not going to suddenly materialize out of nothing. He is going to be born and raised, as Isaiah has many references. You can see them, they're in your notes. In Daniel chapter seven, this one is described like a son of man. And Jesus will attest to this and say, that verse is about me. And so this is very clear. He is going to be in the semblance of man. He's going to be what's called a son of man. And as we have the, the covenant, some call it with David and second Samuel chapter seven, it's very clear. David is told that there'll be a descendant from you that will reign upon your throne forever. Jesus was fully human. Jesus was also fully divine. I'm not going to give a thorough treatment of this, this time. I just want to say a couple things about it. He was fully human, as demonstrated in the gospels, as predicted by the prophets, but he was also fully divine. And for that, we're gonna go to Philippians chapter two in just a moment and walk through some of those verses there. But when we look at his humanity, we cannot lose sight of his divinity. And here's where people struggle and where they have trouble because they get fully convinced, I see very clearly, he was a human being, he was born to a woman. He walked the earth. He experienced the things we experience, even our human limitations as far as physical matters go. But then they lose sight of his divinity. Well, he was fully human, but he was also fully divine, and we'll go into detail on that later in another sermon. But how did these coexist in one person? How does this work? This area of theological study is known as the hypostatic union, and that both these things can be there in this singular person of Jesus Christ. But let me summarize in short. When Jesus came into this world as a baby, conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, he took on human nature. And he took it on completely. even with its weaknesses unto death. He retained all of his divinity, everything that made him God, everything that made him, as we talked earlier, the preexistent Lagos. He kept all of that and added to it human nature. Now, if we go to Philippians in chapter two, starting verse five, We have a passage here that's very important that one particular word here causes people to misunderstand what it means that he became flesh and dwelt among us. And let's just look at these verses where Paul is encouraging his readers to have the attitude of Jesus. And he uses, as a demonstration of that attitude, what it meant that Jesus came and dwelt among us as a human being. He says, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself. That word emptied there is what will cause people some concern. We'll get back to that, talk about what exactly it means. But look at what follows. four different phrases here. By taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death, on a cross. So there's four ways in which he's human described here, what this emptying meant and what taking on this human humanity was about. And he says, therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that's above every name. So Jesus, in Paul's example here, he humbled himself and he emptied himself. Well, I have a quote there by Henry C. Thiessen that I found in a theology book. I found it very helpful to break this down to help us understand. He said, Christ merely surrendered the independent exercise of some of his relative or transitive attributes. In other words, Christ just set aside the prerogative to do God things. He didn't set aside the ability. He didn't set aside any part of himself. He just simply, for a time, went down there, want to live in this human form. There are certain things I'm not going to do. And a quote goes on to say, he did not surrender the absolute or imminent attributes in any sense. He was always perfectly holy, just, merciful, truthful, and faithful. In other words, he did not always wield his divinity while here. And here's where people have difficulties. People that error on his humanity or his divinity have trouble, OK, well, if you drop one or the other, how is it he did miracles? unless he had set aside some certain things on purpose for time, and then exercised them on occasion to feed the multitude, to walk on water, to heal the leper, to raise someone from the dead. It was always there. This divinity was always there. His power was always there. But while he was here, he walked everywhere that he went. He ate every day, except for 40 when he was tempted in the wilderness. He had to rest. When he escaped the authorities, he escaped on foot. He didn't warp out of there in some magical way. He had divine knowledge to help him. And this divine knowledge was always exercised. We saw it in the passage we read. He knew who Nathaniel was. He essentially had seen him earlier sitting under the fig tree. He always seemed to know people's thoughts. He seemed to know who they were. He seemed to always knew what was going to happen. And so in emptying himself, he didn't give up who he was, but he set aside the exercising of certain prerogatives. You can think of it as emptying himself of status, emptying himself of status. And this would meet Paul's example that he's using in the book of Philippians. And what he's arguing for the people to do is don't feel entitled to any particular treatment. Don't feel entitled to any particular name or position or anything else. He's encouraging them to be humble, and he uses the Lord Jesus Christ as an example. Who did what? He emptied himself of those particular parodies. See, Jesus is the eternal son of God, a member of the Godhead. He is worthy of worship 24-7. And yet, when he came upon the earth, he did not immediately demand it of everyone he met. Though, by rights, he could have. So the passage then focuses what he took on. He took on the form of a servant. He was born in the likeness of men. He was found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even the worst kind of death on a cross. Now you'll notice in your notes there, there is a typo. And I will give you $1 if you spot the typo. But if you don't spot the typo or don't mention it, there'll be treasure in heaven. Your choice. So you can look at the sermons earlier as we touched on on his divinity earlier. Logos, the preexistent word or the only son, and we'll talk more about this when we get to a sermon or two on what it means that he was called the son of God. But for now, it's good enough to understand he was fully human and he was fully divine. Now the thing we want to focus on is, what does this really mean to us? What does this really mean to me? What can I take away from this teaching? As I read the Gospels, as I see he was, you know, subject to humanity, that he took on the limitations of his human form. Well, first of all is this, that he can sympathize with me. that he can sympathize with me. But even more than that, so we can say, well, Jesus just doesn't understand. He's this lofty God. Everything's perfect for him. He doesn't know what it's like. He doesn't know what my struggles are like. Yeah, he knows what your struggles are like. And you know, the difference is with the struggles and every single struggle we have as human beings, we can point at least one of those fingers back toward ourselves and say, you know, I may have contributed to this struggle I'm having, but not so with Jesus. He deserved perfect treatment, perfect worship every second that he walked upon this earth, and yet he came to his very creation, the people he was holding together by the power of his word, and they rejected him. And no human being has met that level of rejection. So he can sympathize with us, but even more, He can commune with us. He not only faced rejection and faced difficulties and things like that, he faced temptation. And you'll say, well, that was easy for him. He knew he was God. Well, no, he fully took on humanity. Did you notice all the emphasis Paul put on that? Four different statements of the fact that he had the same flesh on we do. And the book of Hebrews says he was tempted in every way as we are, and yet he was without sin. And I would say, and I would add to that, not that I'm adding to scripture, but I think this will be plain when I say it, he was tempted more than you'll ever be tempted. For he was offered the kingdoms of the world from the one who had the authority to give them. You say, what, Satan didn't have the authority to give the kingdoms? Who was in charge until Jesus went to the cross? Jesus himself even called him the prince of this world. And he offers these kingdoms to Jesus. Well, that offer will never be made to you or I. And if it was, how would we be able to administer that? We couldn't. He could. It would be an absolute disaster, hand us the kingdoms of the world. Half of us can barely manage our own household. OK, more than half. But here we have the divine son of God, tempted greater than we've tempted, rejected worse than we've ever been rejected. And you know what he says? He says, you know what? You're friends. Look what he says to his disciples here. He says, greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I've called you friends. For all that I have heard from my father, I've made known to you. That's why we did the song today. What a friend we have in Jesus. You'll have no better friend. He indeed is that great friend, that savior friend. He says, I call you friends. Look what he says here as he is met by one of the women at his resurrection. Jesus says to her, do not cling to me for I've not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them. 72 hours after those brothers scattered, after what seems to be the chief among those brothers, denied him three times. He says, go to my brothers and tell them I'm ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God. See, it's one thing to be invited into a household and shown some hospitality. It's one thing to be invited in as far as the parlor, maybe the living room if you're lucky. It's another thing to sit down at the table and have insistence that you call my father, father too. And I will call you my brother. And this is the friend we have in Jesus. Do you see how good he is? that he can sympathize with us, that he can fellowship with us. And he can also, because he has experienced what we experienced, because he's taken on humanity fully, he can fully represent us to the Father. And there's no better place to understand that than John chapter 17, when he prays for us, and he prays to the Father on our behalf, and it shows how he is able to represent us in every single detail, in every single way. Here's how it said in Romans 8.34, who is to condemn? Paul says, Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who's gonna call you to account when the one who's been given all judgment into his hand is at the right hand of the father interceding on your behalf. He can represent us to the father. A review of the book of Hebrews would show you that he's a priest, and the priests for the Israelites were supposed to be someone from among the people, a representative. Now, he did narrow it down to a particular line of people, but nevertheless, they were an Israelite, like the others were Israelites. This person would have to come and represent them before God in offering things to God on their behalf. But one of the things that makes Christianity distinctive from everything else, biblical true Christianity distinct from all the other religions is this, that God lowered himself lower than people in order to serve them. And he gave his life to restore this wayward creation. So he can represent me to the father and he can save me. And this is said many times in John, that Jesus says, or it's said of Jesus, God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. And Jesus says, not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He came to save. This was the teaching of the early church. Where in quoting the Old Testament, Peter says, it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And later in the same book, there is no other name under heaven by which to be saved. Where did all this trouble start? It started in the garden with yet a single rule that was given to men. It was given to Adam. Lord commanded the man, Adam, saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. And in this, Paul says this was the first Adam, but Jesus is the last Adam. the final Adam, a representative of mankind, which is why he was not born of an earthly father. It's why he was miraculously conceived, so that he wouldn't bear this burden of sin. It was a reset. It was another chance. He was, in a sense, another Adam, only he was successful. He did not sin. and he saved us by representing us. He can relate to us. In Hebrews chapter seven, as it talks about what it's like to have a priest that is perfect like Jesus, consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. See, the other priests, they lived a while and they died. And they had to keep offering offerings over and over and over. But Jesus offered himself once for all. Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. In a way, Jesus Christ is the ultimate bridge, which is why I chose a picture on this of a bridge. And it's an interesting bridge, because it's a bridge with a big, giant hand sculpted around it, as if holding the bridge up. And I thought, that's a fitting depiction of what Christ has done. where he came to where humanity was, separated from God by a chasm caused by their great sin. And he bridged a cross to God the Father. And over this bridge, he leads many captives. So the question would remain, how do I enter into this relationship with him? Well, he said it back there in John chapter three, all those that believe. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and obey what he said, and what John the Baptist said, and what the early church has always proclaimed is, repent of your sins. Trust the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. He is the only God-man that will ever be presented for you. When we talked about him being this, the only son, a word is used there that means only unique. He's the only one we're gonna get. He's the only one that's gonna be fully God and fully man. Therefore, he is the only one that can save. You cannot build a bridge to God when you cannot even approach him. Jesus has done it, and he has made a way for us all to be saved. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you so much for the wonderful ministry that you have given through the work of Jesus Christ. We thank you for your wonderful plan that rather than crush it all and start over, you redeemed it. You sent your son into this world to save the world. We pray, Lord, that each and every one of us understand this mystery this day and respond to it by taking the next step of faith, by repenting of our sins and trusting in you, or Lord, by taking the next step of faith and following you truly. becoming active and involved in the work of the ministry and in your church. I pray, Lord, that we will minister mightily this word to many people, and we will take it to the nations, as you have told us to, and as the scriptures show. Lord, we thank you so much for this day. We praise you, Lord. We ask you to be known and glorified through this, that we will leave this place enlightened, and we will leave this place with a lightened load. We will leave this place encouraged because the one and only Son of God came and walked in our place and took the punishment that we deserve. And you have raised him up showing indeed that all that he did was perfect and just and true. And Lord, by believing we may be saved. That takes all the other cares in this world. It shows how small they are. We thank you, Lord, for what you have done. We thank you for your ministry in Jesus. In his name we pray, amen.